MSN Messenger Virus

[JPA9]

My mate sent me a virus over MSN Messenger accidentally. Now it's turning my MSN haywire and sending it to everybody else. I can't seem to find the virus on my PC, and I'm doing a McAfee scan to try and get rid of it.

The virus was received in the form of a link showing my email address at the end. I clicked it, which took me to a blank web page, but then offered me a file to download. Has anyone else received this, and if so, how is it possible to get rid of it?

[Sligachan14]

What's the name of the virus?

[JPA9]

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the virus is a programme/file called g.exe

[jake-the-peg]

Are your dat files (virus signatures) up to date on McAfee? Many times people try to remove viruses when their scanners haven't been updated for ages and unsurprisingly it doesn't work.

If It's up to date, McAfee did a utility called cleanboot - I think it was only ever a beta but with it you can burn a boot disk, boot your computer and clean it. You don't boot the PC so the virus can't hide.

Do a search on Google for cleanboot and you should find it pretty quickly.